The Priyadarshan crime thriller managed just ₹1 lakh on its second Saturday, leaving it short of even Family — Ties Of Blood's previous low mark.
Nine days in, and Haiwaan has nothing left to add except the final zeroes. The Akshay Kumar-Saif Ali Khan crime thriller pulled in a mere ₹1 lakh on its second Saturday, per Koimoi's tracking, taking its net total to ₹9.87 crore. Gross, that's ₹11.65 crore. The film is expected to close somewhere between ₹9.91 and ₹9.92 crore net, a number Koimoi has flagged as Akshay's lowest in 26 years at the Indian box office.
There's a wrinkle in that framing worth flagging. Koimoi's own report names Family — Ties Of Blood as the actor's previous low, at ₹8.59 crore net, a figure lower than what Haiwaan is projected to finish on. The outlet still calls Haiwaan the new bottom of the pile for the 26-year stretch, so the two claims don't quite square. We're passing on Koimoi's numbers as reported, contradiction and all, because that's what's on record right now.
What isn't in dispute is that this was supposed to work. Akshay and Priyadarshan had just come off Bhooth Bangla, and pairing them again looked like a safe bet on paper. Except Haiwaan isn't the broad comedy the duo is known for together. It's a niche crime thriller, and audiences who show up for Priyadarshan expecting laughs apparently didn't know what to do with something moodier. Reviews weren't bad. Excitement never showed up regardless.
The cast is stacked for a film that's already wrapping up. Boman Irani, Shriya Pilgaonkar and Saiyami Kher fill out the principal roles, and there's a Mohanlal cameo thrown in for good measure. None of it translated into footfall. BookMyShow users have rated it 5.9 out of 10, which tracks with a film that generated mild approval and zero momentum.
Produced by Venkat K Narayana and Shailaja Desai Fenn under KVN Productions and Thespian Films, Haiwaan will now fade out with a couple of lakhs still to trickle in over its last few shows. For Akshay, it's the kind of number that invites the pile-on his last few misses have already primed the internet for. Social timelines have been unkind, with plenty of chatter pointing at his recent run and asking what went wrong this time.
The actor's next outing is with Anees Bazmee, due in December. That's roughly three months for the conversation to shift from a crime thriller nobody watched to whatever comedy Bazmee has planned. Whether Akshay's core audience comes back for that one, or whether this stretch of misfires has actually dented his pull at the ticket window, is the question the industry will be watching heading into the year-end release calendar.
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